1. Field
This invention relates to medical prosthesis and more particularly to a graft prosthesis for placement within a corporeal lumen, such as a blood vessel or artery.
2. State of the Art
Various body lumens, such as blood vessels or arteries, suffer deterioration or other trauma such that repair is necessary. For example, various types of aneurysms or other deteriorative diseases may affect the ability of the lumen to conduct fluids and in turn may be life-threatening. In some cases the damaged lumen is repairable only with the use of an artificial lumen. For repair of vital lumens such as the aorta, such surgical repair is significantly life-threatening. Surgical techniques that have been employed involve major surgery in which an artificial lumen is inserted into the diseased or obstructed lumen. That is, the damaged or diseased portion of the lumen may be surgically removed or bypassed and an artificial lumen inserted and stitched to the ends of the lumen which were created by the removal of the diseased portion. Kaj Johansen, Aneurysms, Scientific American, 247: 110-125, July 1982. A variation of the typical suturing technique is described by Albert W. Krause, et al, Early Experience With the Intraluminal Graft Prosthesis, American Journal of Surgery, 145: 619-622, May 1983. The device illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,662 to Razgulov et al is an example of a device to be used in such a surgical procedure.
Other devices for the repair of lumens such as blood vessels and arteries include a nitinol coil with a graft. The nitinol coil is reduced in dimension when cool. When placed in the body it heats up returning to a preselected dimension to hold a graft within a lumen. Such devices are discussed in detail in Charles T. Dotter, et al, Transluminal Expandable Nitinol Coil Stent Grafting: Preliminary Report, Radiology 147: 259-260, April 1983, and Andrew Cragg, et al, Nonsurgical Placement of Arterial Endoprostheses: A New Technique Using Nitinol Wire, Radiology 147: 261-263, April 1983. The use of devices such as the nitinol wire discussed above is regarded as not desirable because there is a danger of penetrating the lumen wall and damaging it during the emplacing process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,126 to Choudhury discloses a device for intraluminal repair of an aneurysm. This device is positioned in a vessel in a collapsed form and then hooked into the vessel with hooks that are mechanically extended by the user. This device is mechanically complex and could be unreliable.
Other intraluminal devices are used but not for the repair of a diseased lumen. U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,388 to King et al discloses a system for closing off a septal defect or shunt in the intravascular system in the myocardial area. U.S. Pat. No. 3,334,629 to Cohn discloses a device for restricting the flow of blood. U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,854 to Boretus et al teaches construction and placement of an artificial aortic heart valve. U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,394 to Hunter et al teaches construction of an intraluminal device to occlude a blood vessel. U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,431 to Mobin-Uddin teaches construction of an umbrella-like filter for intraluminal use. MEDI-TECH, Inc. of Watertown, Mass. also sells a device known as the GREENFIELD.TM. Vena Cava filter for intraluminal placement. U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,528 discloses a device that is implanted into the vas-deferens or similar lumen for the splicing of the lumen parts.
None of the devices noted above provide for a reliable and quick means or method to intraluminally repair a lumen.